


The Shoreline

by DustOnBothSides



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Arkanis (Star Wars), Gen, Kylo Ren trying to be better, Mentions of Armitage Hux's mother, Ocean, that calm feeling of being in beautiful places out of season with no one else around
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 18:07:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18783421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DustOnBothSides/pseuds/DustOnBothSides
Summary: The Supreme Leader and the General visit a beach on Arkanis. Hux is conflicted.





	The Shoreline

> Hux would’ve been content to stay where he was - at the shore of a private lagoon, separated from the immense expanse of the ocean by an artificial barrier of boulders and four-pronged breakwaters overgrown with bright yellow lichen. He would’ve been happy just to sit on the blanket, breathe in the briny air and turn his face to the warm, late summer wind. To recall what he remembered of his childhood. 
> 
> It was his first visit to Arkanis ever since his father had whisked him away those thirty years ago, and he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about it. 
> 
> The Supreme Leader insisted on dragging him along on a visit of little significance, away from his beloved _Finalizer_ , which he considered his only remaining home. He had been annoyed at first. Had considered this a waste of time. He thought he had thrown all ties to the Armitage-That-Was away. But once they have arrived… 
> 
> The scent of the place, the cries of its birds, the sound of the surf - all of that touched him someplace deep, deeper than he thought was possible. He tried to reason with himself how ridiculous this notion was. Human ribcage wasn’t robust enough to contain such depths. It was his head. The lack of sleep. His overuse of stims and lack of proper meals. 
> 
> He did not. Feel. Sentimental. 
> 
> Did not. 
> 
> _Did not._
> 
> Still. 
> 
> _(The beach was so beautiful, so exciting! He was only allowed to leave the Academy once a week, and so he always tried to make it count. Which meant beach visits. There he found washed out jellyfishes, strange and misshapen with frills and tiny specks of fading light, pieces of driftwood bleached almost white and wonderfully smooth to the touch, oddly shaped pebbles, and most importantly - green and blue sea glass. Armitage collected it and every time his collection grew to five pieces, he snuck into the kitchens and gave it to his mom as a gift, and she always smiled and said it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen.)_
> 
> _“HUX!”_
> 
> A yell suddenly roused him from his reverie. 
> 
> He looked up. 
> 
> The Supreme Leader was waving at him from the water. His pale body stood out against the backdrop of greenish-grey water, darkened by the dimness of the day. 
> 
> _“Come here!”_
> 
> Hux sighed and got up, abandoning the soft blanket along with the memories of his childhood. 
> 
> He reached the shoreline, where jet-black pebbles of the beach turned into a finer gravel washed out by the surf. Kylo Ren was standing in the water, dressed in a tiny piece of black spansilk which he apparently considered to be a swimsuit. Hux himself was dressed in charcoal-grey jammers which reached his knees, and also a loose, slate-grey shirt. 
> 
> “Yes, Supreme Leader?” 
> 
> “Race me.” Ren said. 
> 
> “Excuse me?”
> 
> “There and back. Five times. The winner gets to choose dinner.”
> 
> Hux suppressed a sigh. 
> 
> “As you wish, Supreme Leader.” He said and removed his shirt. 
> 
> The water was just right as he walked into it. Tepid and calming. Northern Arkanis was on the break of autumn, but its waters still retained the summer’s touch. A new memory suddenly surfaced within his mind. The taste of a cheap, leaf-shaped candy made out of potato starch. It was sweet with a strong bitter hint. His mother bought it to him when the both of them had snuck out to join the celebration of Tolika of the Mists. She bought one of the votive pinwheels and raised him up so he could put it on top of a stone mound. 
> 
> “…Hux?” Ren’s voice brought him back to reality. 
> 
> “Yes. I’m ready.”
> 
> The both of them swam to a pair of flat boulders. Ren did the countdown. 
> 
> 3
> 
> 2
> 
> 1-
> 
> They kicked off. 
> 
> Hux had little interest in the race. Truth to be told, he only agreed in hopes that Ren’s victory would put him in a good mood. He did not plan to win. He knew there was no way he could win. He was still too tired from far too many all-nighters and missed meals. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t show some honest-to-gods effort. 
> 
> He reached the other side of the lagoon almost as soon as Ren. 
> 
> Their speed really was surprisingly matched. 
> 
> Still, Hux knew he couldn’t hold this tempo up, while Ren looked like he loved every second of it. His face shone with pure, almost child-like joy, but he himself - he struggled. Ten lengths. Would he be able to make it? 
> 
> He had to. 
> 
> But on the fourth he started to feel that something was not right. 
> 
> His left calf felt strangely stiff. He tried to relax it as he kicked off the wall to begin with the fifth length, but then- a jolt of crushing pain went through it. He tried to ignore it and pull through, but it wouldn’t go away. In fact, it became worse. 
> 
> He couldn’t use the leg. 
> 
> And he was almost in the middle of the lagoon now, where depth of the water reached well over ten feet. 
> 
> _So that’s what it was about_ \- flashed through his mind. 
> 
> Ren. This was his plan. His plan to get rid of him. Drown him in the waters of his birthplanet. It was almost poetic. But…
> 
> No. 
> 
> Ren didn’t _need_ a convoluted plan to get rid of him. This wasn’t his doing. It was a cramp. Just a stupid cramp. He tried to hide it, tried to swim to the shore, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to move from place. His movements started to get erratic. He swallowed a mouthful of seawater. And suddenly-
> 
> An arm was coiled around his chest. Something tried to pull him up, but he was tired and his leg hurt so, so bad…
> 
> The next thing he knew, he was back on the blanket, his fingers dug deep in the meat of his calf. The pain wasn’t as excruciating as before, but it was still supremely unpleasant. He was just happy he can rest his cheek against the woven fabric. 
> 
> “You… I haven’t realised.” Ren said and Hux noticed the Supreme Leader was sitting right next to him. “I thought that coming from here, you’d be an accomplished swimmer. But you’ve spent most of your life on Star Destroyers. You’ve left so long ago… and the cramp. Your diet of basic rations. There’s no way it contains enough magnesium.”
> 
> “I know.” Hux said. 
> 
> “You know? And still you’ve agreed to the race?” Ren asked incredulously. 
> 
> “What options did I have? It was an order.”
> 
> “…an order? No, that-“
> 
> “You didn’t exactly give me a choice.”
> 
> “But if you knew that racing me would have such consequences, then-…”
> 
> “Chain of command, _Supreme Leader_.” Hux sighed. “If subordinates refused to obey their superiors, the whole Order would descend into chaos. This isn’t about what I want to do or what I feel is right. My every action is observed. Like every commanding officer, I have a responsibility towards my subordinates - I need to set them a proper example.”
> 
> “So… you’ve joined me just because you thought you were _ordered_ to?” Ren asked with bewilderment. 
> 
> He went pale. Why did he go pale? 
> 
> “Yes. It was your command.”
> 
> “N-no, I… “
> 
> Ren dropped his gaze to the ground and then found a new target in Hux’s leg, still unnaturally taut. 
> 
> “I… I can help you. I can heal it-“ he said and moved his hands to the calf. 
> 
> _“No!”_ Hux exclaimed and backed away in sudden bout of panic. 
> 
> Not the Force. 
> 
> Anything but the Force. 
> 
> Anything but the power which had hurled him against so many hard surfaces, which had humiliated him so many times in front of his subordinates. He’d rather suffer the cramp through than having it used against him. 
> 
>  
> 
> Ren jerked away. 
> 
> He did not expect a reaction this strong from a person as cool and collected as Hux. 
> 
> Ren realised he _hated_ seeing Hux back away, hated seeing the dread in his eyes. Hated being flooded by those thoughts and memories in which he could see himself the way he used to be. The way he did not want to be anymore. 
> 
> This… wasn’t the way things were meant to be. Not within the order, and especially not between the two of them. And all of this happened because of _a command._
> 
> He looked at Hux, who had snuck away on the other end of the blanket. His face was a mask of collectedness, but his Force signature radiated pain even worse than before. It was incredible how well he hid it. 
> 
> “I…I’m sorry. I should’ve asked for your permission. But… I can make your leg better, and without Force. This happened to me as well, many times before. I can give you a massage. Just with my fingers. And not with Force. I know how to knead it away, so I… uh… I could try… if you’d like me to.”
> 
>  
> 
> Hux stared at him. 
> 
> He was surprised by the insecurity and awkwardness coming from Ren. 
> 
> His calf still hurt like hell, so he agreed. Slowly. 
> 
> Ren moved in. He gently removed Hux’s hands away from the leg and started to knead the muscles. It hurt, it hurt, but… slowly the pain started to ebb away. Ren’s hands were warm. Warm was also the ocean wind and the gravel beneath the blanket. Hux gazed up at the sky and saw that more and more clouds moved in. The initial nigh-featureless pale was now crowded by puffy columns towering incredibly high, heavy and leaden. 
> 
> Leaden.
> 
> Leaden as his head started to feel. 
> 
> The circular motion of Ren’s hands, the warm wind, all of it felt so soothing, he couldn’t keep his eyes from closing shut. The pain faded away, but the warmth of those fingers remained. He… he has never been touched like _this_ before. Touched with the intention to heal, rather than hurt. And it felt like a little slice of heaven. 
> 
> Hux drifted off. 
> 
> When he came to again, he found himself alone. He was warm, thanks to a black fabric he was wrapped in. It was Ren’s cloak. And his calf- it didn’t hurt at all. The only trace remaining of the cramp was a vague stiffness. 
> 
> He looked around, wondering whether Ren just grew tired of him and retreated back to the hotel, but no- there he was. Standing by a vendor’s speeder parked at the edge of the beach. Hux saw him hand over some credits and receive something in return. When he came back, he was clutching two heavy cylindrical jars of the famed Arkanian warm tonic. 
> 
> “Here.” He said, handing Hux the blue-green one while keeping the purplish to himself. 
> 
> Hux took a sip - and the taste hit him like a sledgehammer. He recognised it. He knew it.
> 
> “Do you like it?” Ren asked.
> 
> “Yes. Very much. It’s… unexpected.”
> 
> “I hoped you would. I’ve asked for the most Arkanian flavour they had.” Ren said and gave him a distinctly un-Ren-like smile.
> 
> “And what is it?”
> 
> “You don’t know?” Ren asked with a surprise. 
> 
> “I know it… but I can’t recall the name.” Hux admitted. “I’ve last been here when I was five.” He added, trying not to think of his mother. 
> 
> “…oh. Figures. Well, you have xanthorus lichen.”
> 
> “And what did you get?” Hux asked without thinking and instantly regretted it. What if his nosiness would make Ren drop the façade now and lash out? While he was armed with a vessel made of glass no less. 
> 
> “I got jogan fruit.”
> 
> _“Jogan fruit?”_ Hux repeated. He did not expect the Supreme Leader to have a sweet-tooth. 
> 
> Ren chuckled. “Ha ha… well, it’s been ages since I had it and Snoke did not give me a lot of opportunities to try it again.”
> 
> “…figures.” Hux muttered and took another sip. It was wonderfully warming. 
> 
> Ren sat down next to him. Both men turned to watch the ocean. 
> 
> Suddenly the low-hanging sun shone through the clouds and it turned the hitherto drab vista into a dream-like painting. It changed the dark churning waves into moving sculptures of luminescent green glass which almost seemed to glow from within. Above them, the sky turned from drab pale into milky white and the clouds moving across it were like ink in water, like ever-changing sheets of living jasper lined by a delicate filigree of amethyst. 
> 
> Then, right before Hux and Ren’s eyes, one of those reddish clouds released an immense flock of birds so white, their swift flight resembled a rain of shooting stars. In their wake came curtains of rain which moved across the open sea in a slow, dramatic fashion. The fresh, ozone-scented wind soon reached even the shore. 
> 
> Both men watched the spectacle without uttering a single word. 
> 
> Both men forgot how to speak. 
> 
> They watched until the sun sank even lower, until it hid away behind another mound of clouds, and all colours and lights disappeared once more. 
> 
> Ren then stood up and stretched his back. 
> 
> “Care for another tonic?” he asked, even though the vendor had moved his speeder to a different corner of the beach. 
> 
> “Sure.” Hux answered and got up as well, dusting his legs off. 
> 
> “I’ll try xanthorus this time.”
> 
> “You won’t regret it.” 
> 
> “Yes. I agree.” 

**Author's Note:**

> My weekly visits to the city pool provide me with a lot of inspiration.  
> (Also, I have no idea how to tag a work which doesn't include body horror)
> 
> Kudos and comments will be much appreciated.


End file.
